By Kelly Nolan
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–It will take a while for the consumer to recover, Carnival Corp.’s (CCL) Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer Howard Frank told Dow Jones Newswires on Tuesday.

“I’m not an economist, but I don’t think we’re going to snap right back,” he said. “With consumers making up 70% of the [U.S.] economy, unemployment around 10% and housing prices still very soft, things won’t get dramatically better quickly. It will take a period of time.”

The comments follow fiscal third quarter earnings from the cruise ship company that topped Wall Street’s expectations, helped by better-than-expected prices on last-minute bookings.

Carnival shares were recently trading up 7.5% to $34.40.

Like other cruise companies, Carnival has had to cut prices amid the recession to attract price-sensitive consumers, who – until recently – have waited closer to sail date to book trips.

While pricing declines haven’t gotten any worse – and on certain itineraries have improved – Frank isn’t making any bullish calls yet.

Overall, cruise prices remain lower and occupancy levels, though improving, are still slightly down from last year. People are booking farther out from sail date than they were before, but Carnival’s strong booking patterns will have to continue before any pricing actions are taken across the board, he said.

Even then, it will likely be a while before cruise prices can be taken up substantially, Frank said. He predicts slow, steady pricing improvement over time.

“I think we’ll be stable to slightly up in pricing,” he said. Frank declined to identify which specific itineraries Carnival had been able to boost pricing for, citing competitive reasons.

In general, consumers still favor shorter, less expensive cruises to longer, more exotic ones. However, Frank said that demand and booking patterns for Carnival’s North American brand European cruises for 2010 “look good.”

Carnival’s North American brands that sail to Europe include Princess, Holland America and on the higher end, The Yachts of Seabourn.

Despite some predictions that a second and stronger round of H1N1 could emerge this fall, Frank said he hasn’t noticed a noticeable resurgence in skittishness from consumers.

When the first round of the virus hit earlier this year, demand for the cruise line’s Mexican itineraries suffered, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked travelers to cut non-essential trips to the country.

That advisory has since been lifted though, and Frank says consumers seem to have a better understanding of the virus’ severity. The H1N1 vaccine, set for release next month, should also help soothe fears, he said.

“People seem to understand it’s not much different than other forms of the flu,” Frank said. “We are doing a lot in terms of protocol” to ensure ships are ready, he added.

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